Local politics, political institutions, and public resource allocation
This paper examines how political institutions and local power structures interact with and influence local public resource allocation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It use data from 80 village councils and 225 villages to examine how this local political economy influences the allocation of public resources. The empirical strategy exploits certain features of a policy that mandates representation for historically disadvantaged groups, including the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), in village councils.